One of the most interesting thing that popped up in the discussion was that not only did users outside of Microsoft believe the wallpaper was some form of security, but the Xbox team also did and copied a version of what they thought it was for Xbox:

And here it is! As you can see, the wallpaper includes a kind of a fractured Wordoku puzzle. Many people figured out it was related to Sudoku in some way, but didn't get all the way to the final phrase solution.

The solution was the phrase START ME UP, a reference to the advertising slogan for Windows 95, itself an intensive parasite to the Rolling Stones song.

Here's the eponymous ad if you've never seen it:

So there you have it: a bit of Windows history baked into another bit of Windows history, encoded into a puzzle left mostly unsolved for the better part of a decade. One of many fun, untold software stories.

A holdover from the 20th century, in which work at home meant a briefcase full of legal pads or someone calling your landline, it makes no sense in today’s world.

Work/life balance has outlived its usefulness. Here’s why:

The term “work/life” itself has a bunch of wrong assumptions baked into it.

First, that work is separate from (and not a part of) life. Two, that work and life together comprise the totality of human existence. Three, that achieving balance between them is important/desirable.

This anachronistic idea of “work/life balance” was popularized in the 1970s and 1980s to clarify expectations about what hours workers were expected to be in the office at IBM/GE/AT&T-style megacorps.

In patriarchal terms, during which hours did you have to wear a tie? 👨🏼‍💼

Related threads

Few days ago, PDP Chairman Secondus put out pixes of him lying down on the floor in prayers and a few of our friends attacked that tweet.

Hours before then, a pic of the Chairman kneeling behind his desk with the PDP flagbearer seated was coming into circulation from APC blogs.

The pic was to be widely spread and misrepresented to cause disaffection in PDP and many would have believed the APC propaganda - but the tweet from the Chairman’s handle of himself in prayer halted the APC plan.

Sometimes you may not understand why things are done, but trust.

PDP is not a perfect party - those of us who put our all into the party understand this very clearly and are under no illusions of messianic perfection.

PDP is also not a cult like APC: dissent is encouraged but we are in political season and politics is war without bloodshed.

Few days ago I asked Twitter if anyone wanted to party with me on the 4th. I invited everyone who responded within a few hours. Yesterday 25 internet strangers partied with me on my apartment rooftop. Everyone was nice and great

I didn’t think anyone would respond. I think there’s clearly a need for more connection, for more room for friendships and places to make friends outside work stuff. I think more random Twitter parties are in order.

For those who want to organize other Twitter parties, all the organizing work I did was make a tweet, invite anyone who replied/DMed to a group DM, and posted a message with details there

Few days ago I tweeted things I should not have. It was bad, I regret and apologize.
This sort of stuff undermines the effort of colleagues, and my own, to articulate the important role various disciplines play in taking ML forward and to create a welcoming and healthy community.

I meant to call out a person for a pattern of behaviour. I should not have done that, I did not give enough context, I worded things poorly, the rest is history.

Most painfully, I turned a personal thing into an us-vs-them message which I do not otherwise endorse.

Let me try to constructively address the situation and repair some damage with a positive message.

Few days ago, BNM revealed that half of the workforce in Malaysia is earning about RM1,700 a month and graduates with a first degree or diploma earn on average, starting salaries of RM2,207 and RM1,346 per month, respectively.

While on the other hand, the living wage for a single adult was RM2,700 per month; RM4,500 per month for a couple without children; and RM6,500 per month for a couple with two children.

We have been hearing a lot of employees complaining that their wages are not enough and some have been stagnant with very minimum increment over the years.